Lost Laptop at Championships

[Spiffizzle]

Originally Posted by Leav

If you didn't already do this: try contacting the Georgia Dome; I'm sure they have a lost and found department....

I did this... I think the people there are getting really sick of me!

I mean, the laptop has my name on it... and if you open it... my team site is up. That was the last thing I was doing. The laptop has a sticker for like "tracking" that says Pascack Valley High School... I'll be paying tomorrow at school.

Thanks for your help, all!

[922finance]

Our team ran into a white macbook on Thursday or Friday. It was left on one of the benches between the GWCC and the Georgia Dome. It was in a very thin black case and had a name inside (can't remember if it was your name). We were around there for a while and the owner seemed to be nowhere around, and we didn't think anyone would purposely leave a mac alone. It was already the end of the day, and everything was just about shut down. We alerted a FIRST volunteer in a yellow shirt and told him there was a name inside the case. He took it (supposedly) somewhere where it can be claimed. Can't trust anyone, but the guy didn't look like he would take it for himself.

I don't know if this was your mac or not...if it wasn't so late in the day we would've looked for the person/given it to pit admin at least. I know I would've been reluctant to take it for the night and look for the person the next day, so we didn't want to do that either.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by 922finance

We alerted a FIRST volunteer in a yellow shirt and told him there was a name inside the case. He took it (supposedly) somewhere where it can be claimed. Can't trust anyone, but the guy didn't look like he would take it for himself.

A yellow shirt like this one? If so, we're talking about an FRC Head Referee--this is a start. (I imagine the number of FIRST crew in FRC Head Referee shirts in Atlanta is severely limited.)

Just curious, have you tried calling FIRST? They also mentioned that they maintained a lost and found as well; anything not claimed at the end of the Championship was put on the trucks to Manchester. I'd try calling them in the morning before cutting that check.

[922finance]

Originally Posted by Billfred

A yellow shirt like this one? If so, we're talking about an FRC Head Referee--this is a start. (I imagine the number of FIRST crew in FRC Head Referee shirts in Atlanta is severely limited.)

Looking at the picture, he wasn't a head referee. I would say he was a regular volunteer.

If your laptop matches the description I gave, let me know if I can help you out with more detailed descriptions, etc. I'd be glad to...

[EricH]

Originally Posted by 922finance

Looking at the picture, he wasn't a head referee. I would say he was a regular volunteer.

FRC volunteers don't wear yellow, except maybe at the Championship... (Unless they're 2008 Head Referees, of course.) I only remember yellow on the front of the shirt in a block a couple years ago, or tan shirts the year before.

Did the shirt say "CREW" or "STAFF" on the back, or did it have some blue logo on it? That can be important in determining where it goes.

[GaryVoshol]

Regular crew volunteers wore t-shirts that were primarily white with Overdrive graphics. I don't recall any judges wearing yellow this year, although I don't know what FTC judges wore. Some GWCC employees wore yellow windbreakers.

Still, if you haven't done it yet, contact team support at FIRST. Anything turned in is put in the Pit Admin shipping box and would be returned to NH. It is surprising what gets left behind and eventually finds its way to Pit Admin. A couple years ago at GLR we held onto a laptop for most of a day before the owner came looking for it. A video camera was never retrieved, and got packed into the box.

[OZ_341]

Did you try calling Georgia Dome Security. We lost a bag of important stuff last year and a FIRSTer had turned it in. Security mailed it to us free of charge.

[Brandon Holley]

a lost and found thread makes sense as long as it doesn't get clogged by posts of "ouch...wow i hope you find your stuff"...as encouraging as that is it would be quite a task to dig through all those to find out who is actually missing stuff.

[SL8]

I have started a lost and found thread here.

I second the ban of I hope you find it post.

[Spiffizzle]

It does... and you just seriously jogged my memory...

I was on my way to the pits with all my stuff when I stopped at I think the last bench to the right on the way to the pits by one of the side doors I was planning on entering. Two friends were there and I left it there...

There's a resume inside with a bunch of activities and a form for a scholarship i never got to apply for...

Who can I contact?

[Spiffizzle]

Originally Posted by Billfred

A yellow shirt like this one? If so, we're talking about an FRC Head Referee--this is a start. (I imagine the number of FIRST crew in FRC Head Referee shirts in Atlanta is severely limited.)

Just curious, have you tried calling FIRST? They also mentioned that they maintained a lost and found as well; anything not claimed at the end of the Championship was put on the trucks to Manchester. I'd try calling them in the morning before cutting that check.

I constantly asked Pit Admin and the Georgia Dome... wherever this mystery yellow shirt guy put it... it wasn't anywhere I could locate it. How do I go about contacting FIRST? It's worth a shot.

[Jimmy Cao]

You can email FIRST at frcteams@usfirst.org I believe.

[gibbyrawr]

so did you find it or not?
our financial officer was wondering since he is the one who found it.

[DonRotolo]

I can answer that" Turns out it WAS a FIRST volunteer that got it (but I don't know the shirt color...), and they couldn't find Spiffzizzle*, so it ended up going by truck back to Manchester, where they had been alerted to its presence and owner. A few weeks after Chamopinships the owner and the ownee were reunited.

How about that: Where else but a FIRST event could you actually leave your laptop lying on a bench, and actually get it back?

Don

*And anyone who KNOWS the lady in question also knows that it's impossible to NOT know where she is at any given instant. I'll miss her as she's off to University (with a FIRST Scholarship!) in a few days.


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